Kill the Auto-Reply
December 14th, 2007
Jeffrey Gitomer wrote a well thought out article about the over-use of the email auto-reply by most individuals (& businesses). To summarize his point…
NOBODY CARES WHERE YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU ARE DOING…THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR OWN NEEDS
Actually, that isn’t entirely true…your competition cares because they become the ones who benefit. I really enjoyed the article and agree that good marketing as well as good customer service requires that you think from your customer’s perspective. What is or will be important to them? How can your organization meet those needs? To forget this, is to lose focus for the reason you’re in business…to serve your customer! This requires you to be creative and use things like the auto-reply only when it would make the customer experience better (not just when it improves your work experience). But on the positive side … killing the auto-reply is a good excuse to go out and buy an iPhone.
December 18th, 2007 at 03:32 PM justification... isn't that when emotion (i really WANT an iPhone) skews logic into what is un-real (i really NEED an iPhone to stay connected with my clientele). this could definitely be the tragic flaw of the modern business owner.
January 13th, 2008 at 09:50 AM We need more elevation blog posts ... the world is waiting!
January 20th, 2008 at 08:39 AM I was thinking about your post again this morning and a question occurred to me: Might it be possible for auto-reply to actually meet a need for the person receiving it? For example, where it set expectation in the sender's mind as to what tangible action will be coming? Or, maybe some other need. I do love your main point though ... stop making "it" or any "it" about you and begin with "the other" ans watch conversations begin.
January 20th, 2008 at 09:09 PM I'm glad that the main point of starting with the other person's needs came through. In some situations an automatic message is an excellent way of communicating the next steps in a process. The problem is when a message is used a way to deflect or shift responsibility away from responding to the need. It is OK, to have a delayed response to an email. Just because it is delivered instantly doesn't mean that we have to respond instantly. If it isn't, then new solutions that are focused on customers needs should be found. Maybe provide a hotline, forums, or a FAQ instead. It all depends on their needs. The problem is that deployment of technology and innovative methods to serve others are never considered if we are too focused the wrong person (us not them).